


Rapt Attention

by lovelivesinthedream



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: M/M, jurassic world!au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-13
Updated: 2015-10-13
Packaged: 2018-04-26 05:31:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4992115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovelivesinthedream/pseuds/lovelivesinthedream
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chanyeol’s the velociraptor handler at Jurassic Town, and Zitao is the unfortunate recipient of all his terrible dinosaur jokes. (He loves it.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rapt Attention

Jurassic Town is much smaller in scale than Jurassic World or even Jurassic Park. Personally, Zitao thinks all the dinosaur programs should have probably been shut down after the complete disasters that happened before. Like always, though, nobody listens to Zitao, and he’s just sucker enough to fall for Junmyeon’s puppy dog eyes. Which is how he’s ended up here, filing reports on the closely monitored dinosaurs in order to ensure no such tragedy happens ever again.

“Progress report?” he asks, glancing over the tablet in his hands in order to recheck data from his previous visit.

He’s met with only the distant echoes of birds calling to each other with squawks and shrieks. Maybe a monkey howl or two. There’s the low buzzing of insects, heavy and dense in population amidst the lush green fauna. It’s not quiet by any means, but it’s also lacking the annoyingly deep and chipper voice that Zitao expects to answer him.

He sighs heavily and glances up from the tablet in order to look over the edge of the barricade. Raising one eyebrow in disdain, he leans his elbows on the thick metal railing and frowns down at the velociraptor handler.

“Ah, there’s my favorite judgmental glare! Aren’t I more fun to look at than your tablet?”

Zitao huffs out a laugh in disbelief. “Your giant ears are funny looking, if that’s what you mean.” In truth, he thinks Chanyeol’s ears are cute, but the ridiculous pout on his face whenever Zitao pretends to insult him is even cuter. “Can you use them as a radar? Do they detect carbon signatures and guide you to fossils?”

Chanyeol shakes his head and grins, one hand shoved in his pocket casually while the sun shines off his messy dark hair. “I’m not a paleontologist, but I could show you where to find an impressive bone,” he tries with an exaggerated wink.

“Not on your life, Park,” Zitao replies instantly. It’s a routine between them by now: Chanyeol uses the dumbest pick-up lines in history, and Zitao shoots him down mercilessly. Grudgingly, he once admitted to his best friend, Sehun, that it’s his favorite part of the monthly inspections he has to perform at Jurassic Town. While in theory it seems impossible for a job that consists of working around dinosaurs to be boring, it does get old pretty quickly. Chanyeol’s cheesiness is actually the only bright spot in the tedium of his day.

He’ll never forgive Junmyeon for talking him into taking the position. It’s more paperwork than anything else.

The velociraptor standing to the right of Chanyeol good-naturedly butts its head against Chanyeol’s shoulder when he makes a pained noise and drops his jaw in fake outrage. As if he's ever taken Zitao's insults seriously. He's so over-dramatic. The velociraptor on his left makes threatening noises while staring at Zitao with sharp, intelligent eyes. A chill runs down his spine, but he hides it. The first rule of working around predators is to not show fear – doing so will trigger their hunting instincts, and then you’re as good as dead.

“Thank you, Kai,” Chanyeol laughs, patting the slightly larger velociraptor on the head. It clicks and purrs, nudging into the touch for a moment before stepping away. The slightly smaller, definitely more aggressive velociraptor requires more effort to calm.

Chanyeol faces it directly, reaching out with brave, unhesitating hands to force the creature to meet his eyes. His usually playful smile is gone, replaced by a look of complete seriousness and control. The fingers of his large hands are spread wide, holding the dangerous mouth closed. One snap of those teeth and he’d lose an appendage. However, despite the danger, he doesn’t appear the least bit frightened as he scolds the velociraptor.

Zitao is lucky he’s above them on the barricade, so Chanyeol can’t hear the impressed gasp that slips between his lips.

“ _No._ You don’t growl at people. People are not food. I appreciate you trying to defend my honor, but Tao is something I can handle on my own.” His deep voice has dropped even lower, and Zitao tries to ignore the way the sound makes something fluttery spring to life in his gut. The velociraptor tries to shake out of Chanyeol’s hold, and he clicks his tongue, sharp and quick, keeping a firm grip on the creature’s face. “I mean it, Soo. Apologize to Tao.”

They have a stare off - deep brown eyes challenging reptilian green. Zitao is breathless for a long minute, heart beating nearly out of his chest as he clenches his hands in white knuckled grips around the rail. He knows, intellectually at least, that Chanyeol faces these kinds of situations every day, but it’s one thing to know it in the back of his mind and something else entirely to see it play out before him. He’s captivated and terrified even though he knows his fear won’t help Chanyeol right now.

Soo caves in first. As soon as he lowers his large, slitted green eyes, head drooping in submission, Zitao exhales a rush of relief. His heart continues to race for a few moments more until Chanyeol releases his hold on the velociraptor and pats it on its rough skinned head. The dinosaur practically rolls its eyes when Chanyeol begins to coo at it, telling it that it’s a good boy.

“I-it can’t understand you, idiot!” Zitao shakily calls out when his heart finally begins to calm.

Chanyeol grins up at him crookedly and arches an eyebrow in challenge. “Come down here and see for yourself. I promise Soo will behave.” When Zitao doesn’t immediately look convinced, Chanyeol turns his self-assured smile to the smaller velociraptor. “You’ll behave, right?”

Zitao is astonished when Soo seems to nod in reply.

It’s only his innate curiosity that makes him force his feet to move. He has an insatiable thirst for knowledge and understanding. It has absolutely nothing to do with wanting to be closer to Chanyeol for once. Maybe see if his giant ears really turn red when he’s embarrassed – it’s hard to tell for sure from up on the barricade. But, nope. It’s purely for more in-depth data to add to his report for Junmyeon next week, or so he tries to convince himself as he hurries down the steps.

His designer shoes were not made with the intention of traipsing through jungle sod. The earth is soft and damp beneath where his knees are wobbling in nervous anticipation. Second thoughts race through his mind. _What if Soo attacks? What if Kai isn’t as kind to strangers as he is to his handler? What if flirting with Chanyeol is awkward when they don’t have the barricade separating them?_ Everything is suddenly very real as he stands in front of the gate, staring through the reinforced steel bars while waiting to be buzzed in. Chanyeol gestures on up to the control room, and all too soon the gate is open in front of him.

Zitao takes a deep breath and centers himself. Gratitude fills him for all his adolescent years of wushu training - it taught him how to focus, and he really needs that right now. He can’t enter the velociraptor zone if he’s afraid. They’ll smell it on him instantly, and even with all the work Chanyeol’s done with them, they’ll still be battling their natural evolutionary instinct to hunt him down. He can’t put himself or Chanyeol at risk like that, nor can he cause unnecessary stress to the creatures. So he waits until he’s certain he’s got himself under control before nodding for the second gate to open, admitting him to this caged space of jungle and danger.

His steps are steady and measured. Not too fast, and not too slow. He keeps his posture straight, not slouching or submitting in any way. It’s about as far as his knowledge goes. Luckily, Chanyeol is completely in charge here.

“Stay right there for a second,” he calls out when Zitao is a couple arm lengths away. Soo is tense, warily watching from the corner of his eye. Kai sniffs from further away, snout raising to test the air. Chanyeol carefully guides Soo a step closer and clicks his tongue. Poised and ready, as soon as Chanyeol gives the signal, Soo inclines his head low. “Good boy, Soo. You’re such a good boy.” Chanyeol coos again, a stupidly pleased grin lighting up his face. Zitao is shocked. Everyone knows that Chanyeol's been working closely with them, but he's never imagined they were smart enough for something like this. It must have taken a lot of hard work and patience from both the handler and the velociraptors. Chanyeol interrupts his musings with a smirk. “It’s polite to bow back, Tao.”

Zitao ignores the blatant teasing in his tone in order to bow respectfully back to Soo. He feels a little ridiculous doing it until he sees Soo relax a fraction, muscles uncoiling under rough skin. Kai still seems hesitant standing behind Chanyeol and closer to the tree line. That's okay. There's no need to stress him out; Zitao is already impressed.

Chanyeol looks impossibly smug and proud even as sweat dampens his dark hair, plastering the slight curls to his forehead and making his soft white t-shirt stick to his chest. Zitao tries really, really hard to keep his eyes on Chanyeol’s face instead of the dusky nipples and smooth outline of muscles visible through the thin material. In fact, he should be reprimanding the handler. It’s definitely not proper attire for working with dinosaurs. The shirt offers him no protection at all if one of the velociraptors should choose to attack.

Then again, there’s not much that could protect him in that case.

“Yeah, yeah. You’re really impressive,” Zitao ungenerously admits when Chanyeol continues grinning at him. He sticks his hands in the pockets of his tailored pants and looks away. He hopes Chanyeol won’t notice the flush growing on his cheeks. Apparently, his libido finds the whole situation ridiculously hot. “That Owen guy taught you a lot it seems.”

“Hey!” Chanyeol protests. “We taught each other! He didn’t have a clue on how to get Blue to eat when she started walking! I told him about the game method, thank you very much.” He pouts and Soo reprimands him with a quick, gentle nip to his arm. Zitao is starting to like this dinosaur more and more. Chanyeol laughs and playfully shoves Soo’s head away. “Okay, Soo and Kai helped out, too.”

Chanyeol is adorable when he fawns over the dinosaurs. He really cares for them, and it shows. Chanyeol is hard-working, dedicated, handsome and funny. Zitao has been trying to ignore how very real the attraction between them might be, but seeing Chanyeol like this, confident and kind as he handles Soo and Kai – well, Zitao doesn’t see the point in pretending anymore.

“Want to go out sometime?” he asks nonchalantly, gazing off to where Soo and Kai are now snuffling around the trees for a quick snack, probably.

Chanyeol smiles wide, chin tucked to chest and plump lips parted to reveal perfectly straight, sparkling teeth. It’s kind of creepy, but it’s also kind of cute. One eye is a little bit wider when he grins so big, and it’s instantly endearing. “Are Jurassic-ing me on a date? I should warn you that I’m hung like an Apatosaurus. It’s only fair that you know what you’re getting into.” Zitao groans, almost regretting asking him out, but Chanyeol continues, on a roll. “You should come home with me because I’ll make you dino-sore. Get it? Haha! Wait, don’t leave yet! I know how to plesiosaur you!”

His laugh is loud and kind of appalling as Zitao shakes his head and walks back over to the gates. He has a report that needs to be finished as soon as possible if he’s going to spend the evening with Chanyeol. Zitao decides to stick it out despite the obnoxious noise Chanyeol’s making. After all, it’ll be fun seeing if he can live up to half of those terrible jokes. Either way, Zitao is certain he’ll enjoy finding out.

The End

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for the taobei writing fest on lj. I saw the prompt two days before posting began, and I had to write it because the world needs more chantao. A billion thanks to the prompter for such a great idea, and to the mods and admins from the fest. And an especially large thanks to anyone that reads ^^ (P.S. I found all the jokes online, and I don’t know anything about dinosaurs.)


End file.
